Malerkotla the 'CITY PEACEFUL'

Malerkotla Headquarter of the Tehsil/Sub Division of the same name,
Malerkotla is situated on the Ludhiana-Sangrur Road at a distance of North of
Sangrur, The District Headquarter. It is also connected by road with Ludhiana
(43 KM) Chandigarh (123 KM) Nabha (36 KM) Patiala (62 Km). It has a railway
station on the Ludhiana-Jakhal railway line.

The town of Malerkotla was devided into two parts – Maler and Kotla. Maler has
probably been named after Malher Singh who is said to have been ruling here. He
is said to have constructed a Kaccha fort here which was called Malhergarh. It
is also said that Malher (now Maler) was founded by Sadr-u-din in 1466 who was
Sherwani afghan of Daraban. He was a very pious man. He left the Peer and
settled at Bhumsi in the remains of the Malhergarh. Behlol Lodhi stayed here on
way to Delhi and met Sadr-u-din and was so impressed with him that when he
became the King of Delhi, he married his daughter Taj with Sadr-u-din along with
68 villages in dowry. Around the hut of Sadr-u-din he merged Basti. It was named
Malher after the fort Malhergarh with later on came to be known as Maler.

The Kotla portion of Malerkotla was established by Bayazid Khan in 1656 in the
south of Maler. It was a walled town with a number of gates. These gates were
closed at night. The distance between Maler and Kotla has been linked by
constructing Moti Bazar in 1901-02 by Nawab Ahmed Ali Khan. It was earlier named
Kotla Maler and later on named Maler-Kotla.

Malerkotla town was capital of the erstwhile princely State of Malerkotla, prior
to the formation of PEPSU on 1 September 1948 when it was made a tehsil of the
Barnala District of PEPSU. Again in 1956, when PEPSU was merged with Punjab it
was made a tehsil of Sangrur District and since then it has continued to be so.